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“What (you’re seeing) is a new phenomenon in American politics, which is the return to power of rural interests and the alignment of rural interests with the Republican Party,” says Gerald Gamm, a political scientist at the University of Rochester who studies state legislatures.

“The rise of the Republicans as the dominant party in the South also has restored rural interests to positions of influence.”

Moore will be the first speaker in 16 years not to come from Mecklenburg County or the Triangle.

Tension between urban and rural interests is expected to play out this session on several issues, including the proposed redistribution of local sales tax revenue. It already has flared in debates over economic incentives.

Half the state’s House members still come from counties defined as rural by the state’s Rural Center, as do a little more than half the senators. In each chamber, rural lawmakers dominate the Republican caucus, giving them the majority in the majority party.

In 2010, 66 percent of North Carolinians lived in urban areas, according to the U.S. census. A decade earlier it was 60 percent. The trend has accelerated.

Ten counties accounted for nearly 80 percent of the state’s population growth since the census, according to John Chesser, a senior analyst with UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute.

Leading the growth were Mecklenburg and Wake counties, where cranes again punctuate the urban skylines. Last year, the United Nations projected Charlotte and Raleigh to be the fastest growing of all large U.S. cities from 2010 to 2030.

By contrast, Chesser found half of North Carolina’s 100 counties have lost population since 2010.

“It’s easy to emphasize differences, but there are a lot of things in common that communities have when it comes to economic development and economic prosperity,” says Scott Mooneyham of the N.C. League of Municipalities. “And this state in general benefits when big cities thrive economically and when small towns thrive economically.”

Finding a middle ground

Advocates say both sides benefit from a regional approach.

Metro areas have jobs and opportunities that benefit outlying communities. Charlotte, for example, attracts 153,000 daily commuters from as far as Stanly and Cleveland counties. And urban areas are dependent on help from rural and suburban lawmakers.

“The challenge is going to be that the majority of urban voices are now Democrats,” says former Rep. Ruth Samuelson, a Charlotte Republican. “Candidly, ever since you had Raleigh in the hands of one party and the city of Charlotte in the hands of another party, it’s been rough going. So regionalism is going to become even more important.”

The tension between urban and rural flared last summer during a debate over whether the state could limit local sales taxes.

“If North Carolina is a body, then certainly the urban area is the heart,” says former state. Sen. Malcolm Graham, a Charlotte Democrat whose term just ended. “And if the heart stops beating, the body dies.”

“I guess those that are fortunate enough to live in Mecklenburg or Wake can make those kind of arguments,” responded Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, an Onslow County Republican. “For those of us who live in rural North Carolina, those arguments are hard to take. You’ve got two North Carolinas is what you’ve got.”